Bitcoin Predicted to Reach New All-Time High in Late 2024, Says VanEck
Asset manager VanEck has made a bold prediction, stating that Bitcoin (BTC) will hit a new all-time high in late 2024. This forecast is based on the anticipated arrival of a long-feared United States recession and regulatory shifts following the next U.S. presidential election.
VanEck recently shared 15 crypto predictions for 2024, including price forecasts, the timing of a spot Bitcoin ETF launch, the impact of the Bitcoin halving, and the emergence of dominant crypto platforms.
Prediction #1: US Recession and Flow into Bitcoin ETFs
VanEck predicts that the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) will be approved in the first quarter of 2024. They also anticipate that more than $2.4 billion will flow into these ETFs during this time to support Bitcoin’s price.
However, the firm also predicts that the U.S. economy will enter a recession. Despite this, the approval of Bitcoin ETFs is expected to provide a boost to the cryptocurrency market.
Bitcoin Halving and Post-Halving Price Rise
The Bitcoin halving, which is scheduled to occur in April or May 2024, is expected to have minimal market disruption. VanEck believes that the price of Bitcoin will rise after the halving and make an all-time high in the fourth quarter of 2024.
According to VanEck, this price surge could be driven by political events and regulatory shifts following the U.S. presidential election, which is set to take place on November 5, 2024.
Ethereum’s Performance and Challenges
VanEck also shared its perspective on Ethereum (ETH), stating that it is unlikely to surpass Bitcoin in 2024. However, the firm believes that Ethereum will outperform major tech stocks. VanEck predicts that Ethereum’s market share will face challenges from other smart contract platforms such as Solana.
Despite this competition, Ethereum is currently the industry standard for smart contracts, with a market capitalization of $285 billion. Solana, a rival high-throughput blockchain, has a market cap of $30 billion. VanEck suggests that Ethereum layer-2 networks will capture the majority of total value locked and trading volume with the implementation of the EIP-4844 scaling update.
Decentralization and AI Monopolies
Another notable prediction from VanEck is that crypto could help decentralize artificial intelligence (AI) and move it away from the control of tech giants such as OpenAI, Google, and Meta. The firm highlights that decentralized networks can enable permissionless markets where anyone can contribute computing power and data to train large language models.
VanEck suggests that in 2024, there will be an increase in the creation of multi-sided, global, permissionless markets enabled by crypto. This shift could potentially disrupt the current centralized AI models.
Other Predictions
In addition to the above predictions, VanEck also forecasts that Binance will lose its position as the top centralized exchange by volume, with competitors like Coinbase, OKX, Bybit, and Bitget contending for leadership.
The firm also predicts that stablecoin market capitalization will reach $200 billion, Circle’s USDC will make a comeback, decentralized exchanges will see a surge in spot trading volumes, and KYC-compliant DeFi platforms will likely surpass non-KYC ones.
Overall, VanEck’s predictions for 2024 indicate a significant year of growth and change for the cryptocurrency industry. While these forecasts are based on speculation, they provide insight into potential trends and developments to watch out for in the coming years.
